With the recent sanctions against the country and skyrocketing market inflation health insurance companies have problems with reimbursing prescribed medicines.
Reported by Tasnim News Agency Ahmad Ariayei Nezhad , a member of the Health Commission of the Parliament of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced that insurance companies pay pharmacies according to old contracts in which the price of drugs is about one third of the current rates.
He seriously warned that if insurance firms do not receive enough premiums/governmental source of money they will soon go bankrupt.
Source: http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news
News code: 334650 (In Farsi)
Accessed: July 27, 2013
Reported by Tasnim News Agency Ahmad Ariayei Nezhad , a member of the Health Commission of the Parliament of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced that insurance companies pay pharmacies according to old contracts in which the price of drugs is about one third of the current rates.
He seriously warned that if insurance firms do not receive enough premiums/governmental source of money they will soon go bankrupt.
Source: http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news
News code: 334650 (In Farsi)
Accessed: July 27, 2013
My comment: Health insurance companies in Iran for the most part receive their monetary input from the government. Only a fraction of the money come from premiums. Pharmacies have two main sources of monetary input for prescribed drugs : Purchaser's out of pocket money (either co-payment or entire payment), and reimbursements mae by the insurance companies. Recently, many people have to pay hundreds of dollars out of their pocket to buy expensive medicines they need to treat specialized conditions such as various cancers and multiple sclerosis. Lately, US government removed the ban from exporting life-saving drugs to Iran. The sanctions have created an alarming problem for Iranians seeking for a variety kinds of medical treatments.
(see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/13/iran-lifesaving-drugs-international-sanctions)
